The centuries old claim that the centre of England is at Meriden was smashed by a report out today that claims it?s much nearer to Nuneaton.

The centuries old claim that the centre of England is at Meriden was smashed by a report out today that claims it?s much nearer to Nuneaton.

A BBC investigation dispels the commonly held belief and instead places the centre at a small farm in Fenny Drayton, just over the Watling Street Leicestershire border north of Nuneaton.

The report, written by Australian journal-ist Brady Haran, makes up part of a series on the BBC News website which tries to find the centre of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

The new information was found using Ordnance Survey?s Gravitational Method which uses a computer to find the point at which a cardboard cut-out of the country could be balanced on the tip of a pencil.

It pinpoints Lindley Hall Farm, the 16-acre farm of Margaret and Richard Farmer.

Meriden has a 500-year-old monument to mark its ?centre? status, but Mr Haran now invites debate on whether the monument should now remain.

He said: ?The claim by Meriden does not seem to have any basis, it is tradition.?

Margaret Farmer, aged 80, who lives at the farm with her husband Charles, aged 89, and their son Richard, said she was thrilled about the news.

She said: ?We lost land because of foot and mouth so this is much more exciting. It has come as a big surprise. We have been here for 41 years and we had no idea at all.?

The investigation places the centre of Great Britain in the Lancashire village of Dunsop Bridge rather than the current claimant in Haltwhistle, Northumberland.